Drug abuse is a national problem in quite a few countries. Not in India yet, fortunately. In Latin American countries such as Columbia, Bolivia and Peru, the drug lords play vital role even in national politics. These countries spend billions of dollars in checking drug-related crimes. But drug curtails are still active and continue to trouble them and rest of the world. In Asia, Afghanistan and Myanmar are basically production centres of deadly drugs and people there can ill afford those. They rather prefer cheap drugs like strong cough syrups which are smuggled through India. On the other hand, India is fast emerging as a global destination for deadly and costly drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana etc.

The open economy in India has made the money flow fast and easy, without proportionate growth of the human resources. This imbalance is a reason for growing frustrations among the population, young and old. With easy access to money, a huge section of them hunt for ‘peace of mind’ which wine or liquor cannot give. They find solution in drugs. The tiny thing can be consumed anywhere – pubs, bars, bedrooms, cars, schools. No wonder, the ‘peace of mind’ comes at a great cost – even a gram is ‘worth’ lakhs and even crores. And the buyers don’t mind. If they don’t have the money, they would resort to theft, rob someone or even kill somebody. Such is the passion to get the ‘peace of mind’. The problem is grave and getting worse, even in India.

The North-east is on the world map of drug trafficking routes, linking Myanmar and China and other south-east Asian countries. No wonder, Meghalaya in the region was ranked among the three top states in terms of drug abuse among children in the country. Consumption of heroin among the group is highest in the state. A top police official recently revealed that 50 per cent of the crimes taking place in capital Shillong are committed by drug abusers. Most of them commit the crime not to take revenge, survive or getting rich, but only to buy more drugs. Despite this grave situation, the government is yet to conduct a survey on number of deaths due to drug abuse, which cannot be zero. Ironically, the government’s entire anti-drug programmes are based on a six-year-old survey. More than the seminars in the name of bringing awareness about ill effects of drugs, the state needs more rehabilitation centres, strong policing, which are still a far cry.

Coal fields in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya are deserted now. Some private schools are closed after migrant workers pulled out their children to leave the coal belt in search of greener pasture. But, colleges in the region are chock-a-block. The crisis is such that over 200 students took the protest route after they were denied admission in the Kiang Nabgbah Government College at Jowai, headquarters of West Jaintia Hills district. These students are hell bent on getting into the college since they cannot afford higher education in any private college. This does not mean there are too many colleges in the private sector. The whole region comprising two districts has only two more colleges – one private and one deficit. East Jaintia Hills, dotted with thousands of coal mines where “easy money” was aplenty till the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban came in April, has only one college.

Little has been spent from the hundreds of crores the government earned from the coal trade in improving education infrastructure in the region. It appears the coal trade has done more harm than good in education. There was hardly any talk apart from money. There was an uneasy calm even among people who felt for the environment. They did not dare speak about the drastic impact of mining on land and water resources because they felt threatened by the money and muscle power of the coal traders. Rapes and murders were almost day-to-day affair, till the mining came to a grinding halt. Certainly, there was no place for education. When it comes to Jaintia Hills, government agencies too hardly thought beyond coal and limestone.

Now, there is a breathing space in Jaintia Hills, to allow government agencies and others to give more thrust on overall development of the region. Education should be a priority. Having just three colleges among two districts of one of the highest populated regions in the state is ridiculous. Till the other day, many people may not have felt the need for education since they could make a lot of money from mining without even recognising the alphabets. Many of Meghalaya’s legislators and members of district councils (MDCs), who rose to power on the sole strength of their coal business, are not even matriculates. Their lack of education could have been one of the reasons for environment taking such a beating over the years, prompting the ban by the NGT.

subsidy scamThe Central government has lost crores of rupees by doling out subsidy to non-existing industrial units in Meghalaya, at a time when industrial growth still remains a far cry in the state.At least nine industrial units, all in the Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP), ceased to exist, but not before enjoying a subsidy of nearly Rs 6 crore in the past 15 years.

The information was revealed by the Commerce and Industries department in reply to a RTI query by Tennydard M Marak, a person known for his prolonged legal battle against the ST status of chief minister Mukul Sangma.

The Commerce and Industries department detected the anomalies during a recent inspection and yet to find out since when these industries shut their operation or whether they did not start any operation at all.

“The matter is under investigation and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the state assembly,” said W Langstang, director of Commerce and Industries.

Action will be taken against some of these industries if found responsible for wastage of public money, he added while refusing to divulge any more information on the under-investigation matter.

Among these non-existing industries, Bomber Cement Plang and Shree Ganapati Rolling Mills were the oldest ones, established in 1999 while Trishul Hi-Tech was the newest, set up in 2006.

Subsidies enjoyed by these industries include capital investment (30%), insurance (100%), transport (90%), power ((3%) and interest on working capital (3%).

The entire subsidy is provided by the Centre to industrial units through the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd (NEDFi).

Most lucrative among these subsidies, for unscrupulous traders, is the transport subsidy which can be manipulated with minimum chance of getting detected.

Although the Central government provides the subsidy to boost industrial growth in the North-east, many companies exploit the government scheme solely for personal benefit without fulfilling any part of the basic objective.

Tribal ‘proprietor’

In a letter written to the department, the RTI applicant Tennydard M Marak raised questions about only one tribal among the three- to seven “proprietors” in each of the nine industries.

For example, Nezone Alloys had only one tribal, Delicent P Marak, among its seven proprietors.

Indicating that this might be the case even with other existing industries, Tennydard said, “The objective of the Industrial Policy 1997 is to give preference to local entrepreneurs in setting up large, medium and small-scale units, but the proportion of local entrepreneurs reveals a different picture.”

However, director of Commerce and Industries W Langstang defending the allotment of license to the companies, saying the existing norms require at least one indigenous tribal proprietor among the proprietors.

“The idea is to let the tribal proprietor gather necessary skills and business acumen to be able to set up his own industry in future,” he said.

Militancy and forest have a unique relation, across the world. Militants – be it Columbia, Bolivia, Chattisgarh or North-east – take shelter in forests and mountains. In Africa and Middle-East, their hide-outs are deserts and barren mountains. Inaccessibility is what they want. The jungles of Bolivia and Cuba must have contributed towards making Che Guevara one of the greatest revolutionaries and guerilla fighters of all time. The Naxal movement (or terror) too had deep roots in the forests of Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. The NSCN top duo – Isak Chisi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah – spent their heydays in the forests of Nagaland and Myanmar. The other NSCN faction led by SS Khaplang still operates from the Patkai hill range of Myanmar. Assam’s ULFA once had huge camps in the forests of Upper Assam. Its most wanted man Paresh Baruah was seen in TV videos as dancing Bihu with cadres in the jungles of Myanmar last year.

Thus, in a way, forests and rough terrains can be seen as fuels of militancy. Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma, it seems, too feels it that way. He almost blamed the nature the other day for rise in militancy. There is no dispute that forests fuel life, in many ways. But militancy? Is it not outrageous to label forests and mountains as factors of rising crime graph at the behest of militants and vested interests? In other words, the chief minister was blaming the mother earth for a happening, which is entirely in human hand and none else. Then what is the solution? Should we fell the trees and flatten the mountains? Mind it, Iraq has little forests. Ironically, there was a report about locals in East Garo Hills claiming crime rates going down after clearing of some forests near NH-62 that connects Williamnagar with Goalpara in Assam.

But, had mountains and forests have any role to play in militancy, Switzerland crisscrossed by the Alps would not have been the world’s most favoured tourist destination. Similar is the case with Himalayan states like Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh. Look at neighbouring Bhutan – the most peaceful nation and yet to be infected by ills of India. No government should try to establish any relation between insurgency and geography and topography of a region. It is entirely a man made menace and the solution is in their hand too, without disturbing the nature.

The ‘rescue’ of a bank official a day after his kidnap is a much-needed breather for Meghalaya police which is facing the blues of
two back-to-back custodial deaths in Garo Hills. The fact that the young official returned home safe from the clutch of kidnappers is
welcomed by one and all. His release has brought succour to his family, friends, colleagues and all peace-loving people. The police
might be a relieved lot too. But should we believe all that police told us about the rescue operation? For many, it may not matter now
since the man in question has returned home hale and hearty. There should not be any ‘gossip’ about whether any ransom was paid to secure his release. It also does not matter if police just found him at the designated location left alone by the militants, after the ‘deal’.
It’s quite easy for police to fire some blank shots in the air and the jungle to paint the story of ‘heavy exchange of fire’. All these may
be skeptics’ versions and the police story of rescuing the official after a ‘sustained operation’ might be the ultimate truth. But are the
words coming from the men in uniform the gospel truth always? Is it not time to put under scanner their ‘success stories’ besides those
cases of violation of human rights like custodial deaths?

Before analysing the police ‘achievement’ bringing the SBI’s Ampati branch manager Arvind Kumar home safe, there are a few incidents that made headlines in Garo Hills recently. The police in West Garo Hills district have been under fire from many quarters since the brutal assault on 12 girls allegedly involved in flesh trade last month. The authorities were accused of letting the girls to be in the custody of some women activists, who ultimately landed up in the jail for allegedly assaulting and confining the girls for over a week. The details of the incident are sketchy which led to institution of three probes by separate government agencies into the incident. Just a few days later, another controversy hit the police as Balsan Marak, a 20-year old arrested in connection with the girls’ assault case, died in judicial custody. As if this was not enough for police, another person, brother of a policeman accused of beating up Balsan in the police station, was killed by suspected militants a few days later.
Then an alleged GNLA over ground worker Wiston Sangma died in police lock-up at Chokpot in South Garo Hills district. Finally, the brutal murder of a woman, Josbina Sangma, by the GNLA accusing her of being a police informer, drew national headlines. All these happened in a month, in Garo Hills.
The rescue of the bank official is definitely a ‘success story’ for the police to hide their face. Chief minister Mukul Sangma went on to
promise the ‘deserving’ cops medals and promotions. Has he considered punishing some for their failure in providing security to civilians? For that he would need inquiries that would linger for years. Let there be an inquiry into this ‘success story’ too, before coming to the conclusion that it was not a drama.

Should accused locked in police cells be kept naked or in underwear to prevent suicide? The Meghalaya home minister Roshan Warjri’s reply to a question about custodial deaths signals such kind of a message. The minister did not directly say that something needs to be done with the pajamas with which the accused commit suicide in police lock-ups. She revealed the ‘fact’ that around 10 persons died in police lock-ups in the past five years in the state. Most of the ten deaths are suicide cases, according to the government. The minister’s remark bears importance in the wake of incidents of two custodial deaths within eight days in Garo Hills recently. Aftershocks of the deaths of Balsan Marak in judicial custody and Wiston Sangma, a Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) worker, inside a police lock-up, are yet to die down in Garo Hills.

Even if the minister’s reply is taken on its face value, the stress laid on the piece of cloth with which the accused commit suicide is uncalled for. Rather the stress should be laid on the reasons for the suicide. There must be something wrong on the part of police which prompted the accused to commit suicide. Normally, such accused who commit suicide due to ‘shame’ are not hard core criminals. If the country’s law can allow even murderers skip death sentence with some years of jail term, should there be no provision for preventing such deaths of petty criminals? Can’t it be understood as police inefficiency in dealing with different types of offenders?

It is often seen that the men in uniform tend to bully the petty offenders. Cops are seen openly beating up auto drivers, rickshaw pullers, roadside vendors for minor offenses. Of course, it is a normal human tendency to attack somebody who cannot fight back. But should the so-called peacekeepers too indulge in the barbaric tendency? India’s Constitution says every citizen has equal rights. They know it better because they swear by the Constitution to protect the law at any cost. We never come across a cop beating up a BMW driver on the street even for any major traffic offenses. Warjri’s remark in the assembly trying to brand the ‘pajama’ as culprit behind custodial deaths is highly insensitive. She should rather tell the police to train their men as to how to deal with accused persons.

Better late than never. Meghalaya government’s plan to replenish degraded land in coal mining areas is a welcome step. The government should have done it much earlier. Now, it has come at the cost of a massive blow to the economy – the ban on coal trade, the biggest revenue earning sector of the state. It appears the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban on the coal trade has prompted the government to take this quick step of announcing a separate fund for turning around the devastating landscape in the mining dens. The top soil suffered
maximum damage in Jaintia Hills where the mining started as a cottage industry around 45 years ago. Most of the farmers left their fields initially in the lure of easy money. Others had no option but to abandon farming as their fields turned barren by acidic water drained
from mining or dumping areas, making them unfit for even a grass to grow.

It is not yet clear as to how the government planned to take up the mammoth task of reclaiming the degraded land. There may be two approaches –government can take possession of the degraded land or eligible farmers be aided to replenish the land. Meghalaya being a Sixth Schedule state, the mechanism will be a complex one. In fact, the complex land tenure system is criticised for being a major factor of delay in progress of many development projects. The decades-old proposed railway head at Byrnihat is a glaring example. The government will have to deal with public concern, protest and even agitation as it goes ahead with the mega exercise, which if it wants mining to resume in the state.

Notwithstanding the hindrances, the first move towards reviving agriculture in coal mining areas is itself a bold step. Although it looks impossible at this stage, making such a plan itself is a good beginning. The government, which comprises many coal barons, was never open about coal mining taking a toll on thousands of farmers’ lives. But at the same time, the government was prompt in explaining how lives of common people were affected due to the NGT ban. The government should now shed this hypocrisy and show how impossible too can be made possible. Given a chance, the poor indigenous people engaged in petty businesses based on the huge migrant population in mining belts can very well earn their bread from farming in the future.

Have you ever heard of the forest department launching crackdown on timber smugglers on the Environment Day? Did the pollution control board revealed facts about industries causing harm to environment on the Day? Has the government come out with any stricter law to combat environment degradation, to mark the global occasion? No, what we see is all seminars, symbolic plantations, talks, processions etc. Most of these end up in reports, media coverage, photo shoots, power point presentations etc. And, the necessary evil of these programmes is rampant use of plastic bottles, seen as a major danger to the environment, not to speak about the money splashed on costly lunch, refreshment etc.

There is no doubt that the speakers invited to Environment Day programmes are learned people. What they say is good, if converted into action. It’s very said that hardly anything is seen on the ground. People’s behavior is not changed despite the crores of taxpayers’ money being spent for bringing ‘awareness’. No one gives a second thought before throwing a plastic bottle out of a moving vehicle. It’s not that these people have not heard about pro-environment slogans in their lifetime.

Economic standard and population density are the two prime factors that influence human behaviour towards environment. Rich and scantily populated countries are seen cleaner and greener than others. The same theory applies to the developing nations in Asia and Africa where people bother least about environment and cleanliness. It might be because of the fact that they are poor and more in number; hence the pressure on the limited natural resources. Keeping the surrounding environment clean is also a costly affair for people in these nations.

The concern about environment in the third world countries has drawn global attention, leading to flow of massive amount of funds for pro-environment programmes in these nations. The respective governments also cough up huge funds for such schemes. But, it’s high time the authorities reviewed whether the crores of rupees spent on such programmes and functions yielded any results on the ground. The so-called environment scholars should visit slums, filthy market places and bus-taxi stands on the Environment Day and try to convince people to change their habits. Otherwise, they would remain mute spectators to anyone throwing garbage on the road once they come out of the air-conditioned auditorium, finishing the Environment Day lecture.

The Garo Hills region of Meghalaya has plunged into utter lawlessness. Militant groups, who hold sway in several pockets of the region, even do not have control over their cadres. The recent brutal murder of a woman at Chokpot is a case to the point. GNLA commander-in-chief must not have told his cadres to try to rape the woman and then pump six bullets from point blank range, tearing her head apart. He may not have asked them to carry out the execution before her children and husband, as they did. The ‘instruction’ might have been to just kill the woman, whom the GNLA branded as a police informer and held her responsible for the killing of a ‘training instructor’. A few days ago, another former rebel of the outfit was also killed for the same reason, in front of his children. His alleged ‘help’ to police in hunting down the ‘training instructor’ also shows how disintegrated the rebels groups have become in the region.

On the other hand, the spurt in killings and abductions has its genesis in the mushrooming of rebel groups fighting for space in the small region of five districts having the population of less than 10 lakh. The militant elements have already entered the political circles, as alleged by none other than political parties. The so-called civil society groups are under scanner too. Chief minister Mukul Sangma came on record saying that there are elements of militant groups in the various NGOs. Obviously, such an epidemic is bound to touch opportunists present in any group especially when militancy has become a lucrative business in Garo Hills. Police are also plagued by moles within and the militants’ proximity to villagers in remote regions where communication means are still a far cry. In the woman’s case, the police got information about some killing in Chokpot the previous evening, but they did not take the risk of venturing out in the night. The caution was justified in view of a recent incident of holding an entire police station hostage for four long hours by an angry mob. Police claim the mob was influenced by Garo rebel group GNLA, one of whose over ground workers died in police custody recently.

The brutal murder of the woman by the GNLA will now give security forces more reasons to launch all out operations against the most influential militant group, which is otherwise supported or feared by a section in Garo Hills. But, the presence of numerous outfits and increased targeting of police informers by them will pose a challenge as well. Peaceful solution to the insurgency situation Garo Hills will remain impossible till people of the region continue being exploited by ulterior motives of the vested interests including militants, politicians or anyone else.